Last night was amazing! The shots I recovered, less than amazing. I got my tripod and other stuff setup and organized before midnight. It was chilly out but there wasn’t any wind to blow the cold down into you clothing. There was a little fog hovering over the lake, making it look like a simmering witches cauldron. There also wasn’t any low clouds that I had to shoot through to see the moon.

I tried and tried to stray away from the preset for taking shots of the moon with the Nikon Coolpix P530. I am sure it is possible, but I am having difficulty due to my other equipment being cheap and unstable. Because mt tripod is really lightweight, it is unstable, making it difficult to get clear shots at full optical zoom without using the 10 second timer for each shot. Setting the 10 second timer allows me to let go of the equipment and the camera to stop shaking before the shot is captured.

I am also noticing something else that is consistently popping up in my shots of the moon. That would be the point of the moon that is the brightest, where the sun is dead center if the illuminated part of the moon. I am finding it is so bright that the light reflected doesn’t allow me to see any of the craters near it.

81.3% Illuminated

Somewhere near the red dot I labeled “a” is about where the suns reflection on the moon is the brightest. I am able to see definition of the craters from the red line towards the “b” marker. Since I still have trouble being on my feet for extended periods of time, I put off adjusting the exposure and other tinkering that can be done with this camera.

I’m not giving up. One nights almost success gave me yet another few things to work on. *Sold another item on Ebay. So I should have my new KetDirect Tripod in a week.